Dangerous exports
December 14, 2009
In their 2008 Arms Exports Report, Germany’s two main churches say the government granted weapons export licenses worth 5.78 billion euros ($8.5 billion), an increase of 36 percent compared with 2007.
The annual report, published in Berlin on Monday, was compiled by the interconfessional watchdog Joint Conference Church and Development (GKKE) in collaboration with several German peace- and conflict research institutes.
GKKE co-chairman Karl Juesten said Germany had become the world’s third largest weapons exporter. He said the development had taken place largely "unnoticed" by the general public, and in spite of "restrictive guidelines on weapons exports" imposed by the government under former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in 1998.
Arms exports driven by economic interests
Juesten said the rise in arms exports was a result of current Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government policies, which were "clearly aimed at boosting German foreign trade, rather than promoting international arms control."
"German arms exports intensify the arms race in regions such as the Middle East, South- and East Asia and South America," he said.
Foreign buyers, Juesten noted, were especially interested in German-manufactured conventional submarines and marine vessels, as well as armored vehicles, small firearms and ammunitions.
First world weapons for third world regimes
About 45 percent of German arms exports in 2008 went to countries within NATO and the European Union, the report says.
However, about 8.8 percent of the weapons were exported to countries described as "problematic" as far as Germany’s 1998 strict arms export guidelines are concerned.
The head of the Hesse Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research, Bernhard Moltmann, said that a total of 51 countries should not have received German weapons under a strict interpretation of the guidelines because they had poor human rights records, or were hotbeds of regional conflicts.
They include Pakistan, India, Rwanda, Yemen and Sudan. In 2008, those countries received weapons worth more than one billion euros.
Bernhard Felmberg, who is also a GKKE co-chairman, said German arms manufacturers also profit enormously from international efforts to re-arm the Afghan and Iraqi militaries.
Felmberg claimed that the governments in these two countries were unable to ensure that German weapons would be used for the purpose stipulated in the export licenses.
"The fact that German arms are illegally traded in market places in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan is proving that effective government controls in those countries are nonexistent," he said.
Calls for transparency
The two main churches have called on the German parliament to make sure that existing arms export guidelines are followed. They have also urged more transparency in the way arms export licenses are awarded.
In Germany, the National Security Council, a special body made up of government ministers and officials, grants licenses for weapons exports and dictates export policies.
Author: Uwe Hessler
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar